Impact of The Opioid Crisis (590 hits)

From The Ramparts
Junious Ricardo Stanton
Impact of The Opioid Crisis

“Drug overdose is the leading cause of accidental death in the US, with 52,404 lethal drug overdoses in 2015. Opioid addiction is driving this epidemic, with 20,101 overdose deaths related to prescription pain relievers, and 12,990 overdose deaths related to heroin in 2015.” https://www.asam.org

As the US grapples with an escalating opioid epidemic that is ravaging this nation, it is important we examine how this happened and why it is such a huge problem. The opioid crisis is totally out of control partly due to overzealous physicians prescribing addictive pain killers such as oxycodone, hydrocodone, codeine, morphine, fentanyl coupled with illicit street drugs like heroin and cocaine. It has been documented that US physicians received kickbacks in the form of payments, speaking fees, food and drink from pharmaceutical reps and companies to write prescriptions for their products.
A study published in the American Journal of Public Health revealed
US doctors were on the take, big time. “Objective: To identify payments that involved opioid products from the pharmaceutical industry to physicians. Methods. We used the Open Payments program database from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services to identify payments involving an opioid to physicians between August 2013 and December 2015. We used medians, interquartile ranges, and ranges as a result of heavily skewed distributions to examine payments according to opioid product, abuse-deterrent formulation, nature of payment, state, and physician specialty. Results. During the study, 375 266 nonresearch opioid-related payments were made to 68 177 physicians, totaling $46 158 388. The top 1% of physicians received 82.5% of total payments in dollars. Abuse-deterrent formulations constituted 20.3% of total payments, and buprenorphine marketed for addiction treatment constituted 9.9%. Most payments were for speaking fees or honoraria (63.2% of all dollars), whereas food and beverage payments were the most frequent (93.9% of all payments). Physicians specializing in anesthesiology received the most in total annual payments (median = $50; interquartile range = $16–$151).” http://ajph.aphapublications.org/doi/10.2105/AJPH.2017.303982
People are hooked because their doctors got paid to prescribe addictive medications and painkillers. Once the patients became addicted they sought other means to maintain their high or pain free status. The opioid menace has reached crisis proportions in the white communities and this has spurred a totally new approach to addiction and treatment.
When the US CIA with their organized crime business associates were dumping heroin, cocaine and other illicit drugs in the ghettos and barrios of America, the official response was to craft public policy that used this situation to create a bogus War on Drugs that targeted, arrested and convicted users and small time pushers while ignoring the major traffickers. The major players were pumping tons of drugs on the streets and billions into the major banks to launder the money and fuel off book secret operations (think the Iran Contra scandal) so they received a pass because they were part of the plan.
Drug trafficking is big business! “The most frequently found figures in the literature range from $300 billion to $500 billion a year and seem to be the most reasonable estimates. One UNDCP estimate for 1995 reflecting global illicit drug sales to consumers, gives a figure close to $400 billion. A similar turnover was also estimated by the International Criminal Police Organization/ Interpol. Such a turnover of the illicit drug industry would be equivalent to approximately 8 per cent of total international trade. It would be larger than the international trade in iron and steel and motor vehicles (2.8 per cent and 5.3 per cent respectively) and approximately the same size as the international trade in textiles (7.5 per cent), oil and gas (8.6 per cent) and world tourism.”
https://www.unodc.org/pdf/technical_series_1998-01-01_1.pdf
Drug trafficking became a big business as did the prison industrial complex by incarcerating Black and Brown people, but that’s another topic for another day. Now that opioid deaths and addiction is a white thing and skyrocketing nationwide addiction is threatening major economic and public health disruption, the politicians are singing a new tune. Now it’s not viewed as an indication of moral depravity like when Black folks were caught in the addiction cycle. Now it’s a public health issue/crisis because white folks are dying from overdoses.
“Drug overdose is the leading cause of accidental death in the US, with 52,404 lethal drug overdoses in 2015. Opioid addiction is driving this epidemic, with 20,101 overdose deaths related to prescription pain relievers, and 12,990 overdose deaths related to heroin in 2015. From 1999 to 2008, overdose death rates, sales and substance use disorder treatment admissions related to prescription pain relievers increased in parallel. The overdose death rate in 2008 was nearly four times the 1999 rate; sales of prescription pain relievers in 2010 were four times those in 1999; and the substance use disorder treatment admission rate in 2009 was six times the 1999 rate. In 2012, 259 million prescriptions were written for opioids, which is more than enough to give every American adult their own bottle of pills. Four in five new heroin users started out misusing prescription painkillers. 94% of respondents in a 2014 survey of people in treatment for opioid addiction said they chose to use heroin because prescription opioids were ‘far more expensive and harder to obtain.’” Opioid Addiction 2016 Facts & Figures https://www.asam.org/docs/default-source/advocacy/opioid-addiction-disease-facts-figures.pdf
Drug addiction is taking a massive toll on American life and there seems to be no end in sight as the addicts are younger and younger. “In 2015, an estimated 21,000 adolescents had used heroin in the past year, and an estimated 5,000 were current heroin users. Additionally, an estimated 6,000 adolescents had heroin a heroin use disorder in 2014. People often share their unused pain relievers, unaware of the dangers of nonmedical opioid use. Most adolescents who misuse prescription pain relievers are given them for free by a friend or relative. The prescribing rates for prescription opioids among adolescents and young adults nearly doubled from 1994 to 2007.” Ibid
What must of us overlook is the fact Western culture fosters addiction to a myriad of substances: caffeine, sugar, alcohol, s*x and drugs. To resolve this crisis will require a major transformation of values and lifestyle. It will be difficult to take the profit motive out of drug trafficking and prescription pushing, so better education about our divine nature/potential, resilience and resourcefulness is needed. It will not be enough to just say no or take a pill to make things better.

Brother Doctor Junious Stanton, I would like to take this time, to say Thank You for this post which, confirms a long standing believe that ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL CONSEQUENCES OF DRUG ABUSE AND ILLICIT TRAFFICKING is real.

I am going back to that PDF report but I just wanted stop now just to say "Thank You."

Have you ever tried these alternative treatments? I have and they don’t work. The problem with our modern American neo-democracy is that it’s not at all democratic. People simply project their own individual conditions onto society as a whole.
Tuesday, March 27th 2018 at 12:59AM
Steve Williams

I almost forgot. Prescription pain medications are not addictive.
Tuesday, March 27th 2018 at 1:17AM
Steve Williams

Don't you understand that Opioids are a class of drugs made from opium, as well as synthetic or semi-synthetic drugs that resemble these opium-based drugs. Many opioids are available by prescription. Examples include oxycodone, codeine, morphine, and fentanyl. Heroin is one of these drugs that is illegal. These drugs are often referred to as narcotics.

Steve, this is what to look for in a person who is a addicted on opioids.

The common signs of opiate addiction that you should pay attention to include:

Track marks or needle marks – these come from shooting heroin or other opiates intravenously.
Lethargic or heavy limbs –heroin and other opiates can make the limbs seem heavy and long.

For you to say that you almost forgot that Prescription pain medications are not addictive is not true at all, that is why I said WOW!!!

Can you show me evidence that opioids prescribed by doctors for extreme pain, is not addictive?

I know that Vicodin for instance isn’t addictive, because I took it for years and never became addicted.
Tuesday, March 27th 2018 at 9:14AM
Steve Williams

Health is not a one size fits all. Everyone is different because we are unique. I had bulging disks twenty years ago and was in excruciating pain. WHen I went to the emergency room (I was out of town when it happened) they prescribed oxycodone. I didn't like the way it made me feel so when I return home I stopped using it. I went to a naturopath she told me about homeopathic medicines and suggested several. I took them they worked I didn't have the side effects but they didn't dull the pain like the oxycodone.
Tuesday, March 27th 2018 at 9:49AM
Junious Stanton

Can you show me evidence that opioids prescribed by doctors for extreme pain, side effects, is not addictive?

FENTANYL, is the prescribe drug of choice that is in the news causing DEATH to middle and low classes of people and it is teenagers in the small towns are most effected.

Now, according to the DEA, 1 out of every 10 teens reported using prescription pain medications to get high at least once in the last year. From 2004 to 2010, emergency room visits resulting from prescription medication abuse in children younger than 20 years old rose by 45%.3 Clearly, the lives of America’s teenagers are increasingly endangered when they unknowingly purchase counterfeit medications on the streets that contain fentanyl, since it can be fatal in frighteningly small doses. Understanding what fentanyl is and how it lands in teenagers’ hands, then, is of utmost importance in protecting them from its dangers.

Steve, did you see the KEY WORDS: "USING PRESCIPTION PAIN MEDICATIONS?"

Junious, I agree health is not one size fits all. That’s the reason I object to government involvement in my health, which should be strictly between me and my doctor. But my doctors in the last 4 years, have only become more and more fearful of government retribution were they to prescribe me Vicodin. Currently my only remedy for pain is to do my best to ignore it.

Hey Steve, I would like to share this information of Most Addictive Painkillers

This is a list of ten of some of the most addictive painkillers on the market today. They are all synthetic or semi-synthetic opiates. Most are usually prescribed for the treatment of chronic pain. Please note, this is not a complete list, and many more addictive painkillers and other prescription medications are on the market. If you want to know about whether a medication is addictive, talk to your physician or pharmacist.

1. Fentanyl More potent than morphine, Fentanyl is used most often to treat patients with severe pain or post-surgical pain, as well as those who have become physically tolerant of opiates. It's available as a lozenge, injectable solution, or skin patch.

2. Stadol Available as a nasal spray or injectable solution, Stadol belongs to a class of medications known as opioid agonist-antagonists. It works by altering the way your body senses pain.

3. OxyContin is used as an around-the-clock treatment for patients with moderate to severe pain expected to last for an extended period of time. It's available as a tablet.

Opioids prescribed for pain, like Oxycontin, Roxicodone, Vicodin, Lortab and Norco, among others — The presence of pain at increasingly higher doses may indicate abuse and/or addiction, as well as other symptoms such as constipation, nausea, poor coordination and/or a sense of euphoria.

This was the drug of your choice and it rank Number 3 of the most Addictive Pain Relievers.

In addition, there are a number of different drugs that can ease pain. Many of these fall into the opioid category, also known as narcotic pain relievers. These drugs include morphine and codeine, as well as many synthetic modifications of these drugs.

However, it's important to be cautious when taking pain relief medications. The treatment may be more dangerous than the underlying cause of the pain. While people are less likely to become addicted to pain-relieving drugs when they take them as prescribed for their intended purpose—to relieve pain—many of these medications also produce a "high" that can become addicting to some patients. For this reason, pain medication over-use (sometimes unfortunately called medication abuse or narcotic abuse) has become one of the most prevalent forms of drug abuse in the United States.

Steve, I am sure you do not fit that character and life style but with that said, their are so many people did and they lost their life, trying to have fun in getting high.

So don't tell anyone that Vicodin is not addictive, because you took it for years. You used Vicodin as prescribed and that is your blessing and you should be thankful you did not fall into that temptation.

The penalty for me is that I haven’t been able to get a prescription for Vicodin in about 3 years, not for any medical reason but because the politicians have decreed that Vicodin is at the root of “the opioid crisis”.
Tuesday, March 27th 2018 at 9:03PM
Steve Williams

My doctor himself confirmed this to me. He has since retired and I’ll ask my new doctor when I see her shortly for the first time, but I have no hope the answer will be any different.
Tuesday, March 27th 2018 at 9:12PM
Steve Williams

That my friend is between you and your doctor Steve, I have not penalize you at all. I hope that you don't call this statement of mime PENALIZING you:

Steve, I am sure you do not fit that character and life style but with that said, their are so many people did and they lost their life, trying to have fun in getting high.

So don't tell anyone that Vicodin is not addictive, because you took it for years. You used Vicodin as prescribed and that is your blessing and you should be thankful you did not fall into that temptation.

I didn’t say you penalized me Ron. The penalty on me is imposed by the politicians who are forcing doctors to violate their ethic to “do no harm” to their patients.
Wednesday, March 28th 2018 at 9:46AM
Steve Williams

Physicians are understandably conflicted about how, when, and whether to prescribe opioids. On the one hand, relief from suffering is a primary obligation of physicians, and pain remains undertreated after decades of improvement efforts.2 The inadequate treatment of pain was the subject of significant clinical and policy efforts in the 1990s;3 among those efforts were the increased use of opioids for acute pain and the use of long-term opioid therapy for patients with chronic pain.4 Although opioid prescriptions are only one aspect of effective pain treatment, the failure to utilize opioids in appropriate circumstances causes suffering and creates a barrier to effective pain care.5 According to Cheatle and Savage, “[o]ne of the barriers to effective pain management across the spectrum of pain conditions … is the clinician’s fear of prescribing opioids beyond that merited by the actual risks.”6 Efforts in 1990s to lessen barriers to appropriate opioid use did result in decreased suffering for some patients.7

OH!!! It is the politicians. See Steve you mentioned my name in that statement of yours: I’m only responsible for my own actions Ron. Others are responsible for theirs and if they are not responsible for their own actions I sure as hell am not. Why penalize ME? Tuesday, March 27th 2018 at 3:53PM Like I had something to do with your Doctor and your prescription.

Now that you said you was referring to politicians, that cleared that issue up for me.

Brother Doctor Junious Ricardo Stanton, I can see the truth in this statement: The opioid menace has reached crisis proportions in the white communities and this has spurred a totally new approach to addiction and treatment.

When the US CIA with their organized crime business associates were dumping heroin, cocaine and other illicit drugs in the ghettos and barrios of America, the official response was to craft public policy that used this situation to create a bogus War on Drugs that targeted, arrested and convicted users and small time pushers while ignoring the major traffickers.

The major players were pumping tons of drugs on the streets and billions into the major banks to launder the money and fuel off book secret operations (think the Iran Contra scandal) so they received a pass because they were part of the plan.

The bogus War on Drugs was really a war against Black, Brown and poor people. To get a better perspective of the nexus between the 1% their government lackeys and the banks see Catherine Austin Fitts series on Narco Dollars at http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0202/S00054.htmWednesday, March 28th 2018 at 4:00PM
Junious Stanton

Now you know, I clicked on that link and as the article got interesting, I was at the end. So what I did was to bookmark that page because I would like to see more.

No problem. We have been duped deceived, distracted and discombobulated to prevent us from knowing the real deal just how criminal this government and system actually are.
Wednesday, March 28th 2018 at 6:58PM
Junious Stanton

Impact of The Opioid Crisis

SUBJECT

There has been an Opioid Crisis or Opium Crisis SINCE colonialismAfrica Asia.......!

No problem. We have been duped deceived, distracted and discombobulated to prevent us from knowing the real deal just how criminal this government and system actually are.
Wednesday, March 28th 2018 at 6:58PM
Junious Stanton

Are you denying the FACT of the Impact of The Opioid Crisis in this country "SMOKEY"?

I don't...

Steve, This so-called Drug Epidemic is part of a plan to keep the messes of the people divided so that rich can made legislation to take our freedoms and safety net away from the poor and the middle classes in America and it is happening right before your very eye's and you act like you don't see it.

Who was it who said something like?

They came for the gypsies and nothing was said. When they came for the Jews I said nothing, I was'nt a Jew
When they came for the Gypsies I said nothing,I was'nt a Gypsy
When they came for the homos*xuals I said nothing, I was not a homos*xual.
When they came for the Catholics I said nothing, I was not a Catholic.
When they came for me there was nobody to speak

You rightly call it a “so-called” epidemic Ron. That 6 billion dollars in the budget is a complete waste.
Friday, March 30th 2018 at 3:14PM
Steve Williams

You call saving American life's a complete waste. I think that American life is golden and the money spent on good health is a plus and not a waste of resources. Who knows, that money spent may be their to save your own LIFE Steve.

Sure I care Ron, but throwing money at the problem won't fix it. Individuals make their decisions and individuals receive their recompense. If you think you can save them then go into their lairs and convince them to change their ways. All that takes is your individual time and effort. Don't put it on the American taxpayer, don't run up the debt for future American generations.

If we as Americans can't take care of nations sick, then how can the U.S. can care about and finance the issues in The Middle East, Ukrainian, Russia, North Korea, China and the developing countries in Africa?

Trump ran on his claim of Americans first, don't you remember that? Then hold him to his word Steve, don't give him a "MULLIGAN" on taking care of All Americans.